NIAGARA FALLS SCHOOLS: With the school district facing a deficit, it can’t afford any new major projects

By Caitlin Murray<br><a href="mailto:murrayc@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Caitlin</a>

The Niagara Falls Board of Education met Thursday to, among other things, look at a list of $12 million in capital projects.

The improvements ranged from large — like replacing Gaskill Preparatory School’s aging roof for $2.6 million — to smaller items such as buying new library shelves and furniture at Hyde Park Elementary for $15,000.

But it took about a half hour of discussion and questions before the board realized they probably can’t afford to do at least 43 of the 47 projects on the list.

“So why are we even looking at this?” asked board member Carm Rotella as she tossed the list aside.

This past week has marked itself in the Niagara Falls City School District as one where years of poor financial oversight have seemed to catch up.

On Tuesday, an audit released from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli slammed the district for allowing hundreds of thousands of dollars in improper compensation for district employees. On Thursday, Superintendent Carmen Granto informed the board new district auditors have ordered $6 million in defunct payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, or PILOT, agreements, immediately be written off, putting the district in a $1.2 million hole. A $3.8 million surplus and nearly $1 million in casino settlement money will go toward chipping away at that $6 million debt caused from the PILOTs. But that means there is no money available to be spent on most of this year’s capital project list.

Some of the projects were ones that board had planned on being able to do this year, like replacing Gaskill’s roof.

Last year, representatives from Cannon Design presented roofs on four buildings as candidates for capital projects because of leaking problems: The administration building, Gaskill, Geraldine J. Mann Elementary and 79th Street School. The board opted to replace one roof at a time, starting with the administration building.

This year, a list of 47 items for possible improvements will largely remain untouched, including $400,000 in musical instruments districtwide, $1 million in masonry work at LaSalle Preparatory School and sod or turf replacements at high school sports fields for $1 million per field.

The only projects the district can afford will be covered by EXCEL aid, state education aid given toward technology capital improvements. The district has less than $1.2 million of it to spend.

The district got about $7 million in EXCEL aid and allotted most of it last year to go toward the purchase of about 400 interactive touch-screen classroom projectors and other capital projects.

As of Thursday, the board is looking at using its leftover EXCEL aid for $255,000 in telephone system upgrades because the district’s current equipment is old and no longer supported by Nortel Networks.

Another $30,000 would go toward fixing leaking oil tanks at LaSalle Prep, Maple Avenue School and Hyde Park by orders from the Department of Environmental Conservation. About $50,000 would be spent for fire alarm and power supply upgrades districtwide and $30,000 to fix the front doors at G. J. Mann.

But by the time work begins on the projects approved with EXCEL aid last year, costs could inflate and the remaining $1.2 million could be needed to cover the overage. Therefore, the board cannot approve any new projects using leftover EXCEL aid until work begins on last year’s project list, Granto said.

“Most of the (new) projects probably won’t happen the next school year unless additional aid becomes available or in the case of emergency,” Granto said, adding that bonding would be used if emergency repairs are needed on a roof, for example.